So if the Minimum Wage increases...

[missbunnyrabbit]

My own wage in a public sector job seems lower than ever. The article I read suggests the public sector pay freezes will end, but I doubt we'll get such a large pay rise!

Aibu to feel like packing my teacher job in to go and work a minimum wage job instead?

The issue is that you have a worker earning min wage and a supervisor earning min wage plus 50p. So as soon as min wage goes up by 50p the supervisor says “well I’m not doing the extra work of being a supervisor if I’m on the same wage as the worker underneath me who doesn’t have that responsibility”

No, the issue is, you are paying your supervisor only 50p an hour more than minimum wage.

Lowest rent here NE is around £500 but that is for a small house or flat but that price is hard to find. Then you have council tax which is around £120 lowest. Food, insurance, travel cost, gas, electric, internet, phone, by the time those have been paid what's left! Not bloody much if any. Depressing

A few points to mention ...
I have done a couple of minimum wage jobs, as have people I know, and they are easy compared to a lot of professional jobs

Priceless. Your temporary stints of casual work don't compare with trying to live a life and raise a family on zero hours contract, sod all pension and no security or progression.

You don't know what stress is. Still, at 27 you could turn out just to be a late developer and eventually grow up.

Your friend who's a manager in Spoons is probably earning comparatively less than his hourly paid staff by the time he puts in his 60 hour week on a shite salary, working every weekend, constantly on his feet, dealing with drunk arseholes.
I know, I've been a Duty Manager in Spoons and nearly had a breakdown.
Yes it can work. My brother manages his own McDonalds branch now after working there since school. Hes on a decent salary and has a company car. It only took him 20 years mind you and you'll STILL probably out earn him in a few years as a teacher.
Like I say op, if you think it's the better choice for you, quit teaching, get yourself a full time bar or supermarket or factory job and enjoy the stress free minimum wage life. Hope you don't want kids though, because people just like you will come along to tell you that you shouldn't have kids if you can't afford them

It's an extra £94 a month for someone on nmw at 40 hours. Before tax and NI and pensions contribution.
It's to try and bridge the gap between the already happening and forecast price rises of survival, not living, survival.
For many it's going to be swapping a few quid in benefits for a few more quid earned, but not actually result in an increase in income for that person. So it's going to reduce the welfare bill a bit. It's going to reduce what's paid out in tax credits and UC to working people and the employers who are running their business are going to have to pay a bit more like the real cost as the government will be bridging less of the gap between wages and the cost of living.
A lot of people aren't actually going to be better off financially with this, and those that are it's going to go straight back out into the economy on increased costs, and still not show a real improvement in income or lifestyle.

Yet people who won't be in danger of going under with the price increases happening aren't happy about it because they don't feel their hard work is valued enough if people earn nearer to what they do. They feel like it's not worth it and they should get paid more.
Well welcome to our world! We're the people who've been told that we just don't try hard enough, are lazy and uninspired and if we want to be paid more we should do something about it, well to those people - here's your advice straight back to you, go work a bit harder, be a bit more inspired and get yourself a better job if you want more money, maybe you're not worth as much as you think you are!

I've worked in public sector for 6 years and the biggest pay rise I've had was last yr or yr before at 1.5% but mainly it's been 0.5-1%. Absolutely shocking. If it wasn't for the flexibility and part time hrs I do I wld have been away yrs ago! I know they will be bringing in new recruits on a higher salary than me which seriously annoys me there is nothing for loyalty! I cld get thousands more elsewhere but wouldn't get part time 🙁

@ivykaty44

Have you ever been a teacher? 39 hours per week 🤣😂 my contracted hours were 40 per week. *Then the marking, planning, events, parents evenings etc… during term time it was probably closer to 60 hours and then during the holidays it was expected that you’d run at least one day of catch up.*

Have you worked split shifts in a hotel on minimum wage? You do late bar to, so may not get home till 2am but have got to be back in for 6:30am breakfast shift, work till 11am and back in for 4pm. Or you’d just start at 3pm and work through till 2 go home get some sleep till young family woke you at 7

Then the next week, no work and no money. The stress of that not easy and trying to work out how to rob Peter to pay Paul.

Minimum wages, terms and conditions need to change for the better and the lack of understanding of that shines through.

No I haven’t but then as a bar manager are you expected to run trips with no extra pay… just because teachers have a ‘secure’ job does not mean a zero hours job is more stressful. There are different stresses, I have never argued that one was more or less stressful but was challenging the poster who decided that teachers only work 39 hours a week.

@YouJustFoldItIn - as only 6 weeks of the holiday is paid leave but I was still expected to run extra classes during those holidays and also mark controlled assessments. There is a reason why teachers are leaving the profession. Im no longer a teacher for a reason, it’s not as child friendly a job as people think and also the expectations were mounting up with little time to complete the job in the contracted hours.

No I haven’t but then as a bar manager are you expected to run trips with no extra pay… just because teachers have a ‘secure’ job does not mean a zero hours job is more stressful. There are different stresses, I have never argued that one was more or less stressful but was challenging the poster who decided that teachers only work 39 hours a week.

you were arguing that one is harder than the other - you started your post that way

the bar 'manager' will be working a 70 hour week and on a salary for 40 I doubt he take punters on trip, but they'll be Vaseline on the cistern just in case. The bar staff will be on zero hours contract

I saw a thick as mince woman on the local news last night saying ‘if the minimum wage is going up then it’s not fair on everyone else’ 🙄
Thatcher got her wish , there really is no such thing as society any more.

Surely working for minimum wage would be a huge decrease from what you earn on a teachers salary.
Also if you have children then the childcare issue would be a huge consideration.
Maybe though it's more that you'd like to find a job that makes you happier. My DH was once a teacher and it stressed him to the point of near breakdown.
I've always worked min wage jobs. It's pants money wise

Also no sick pay and just 4 weeks holiday. I also work weekends and bank holidays
I obviously don't know your financial situation but even with the min wage increase I am shocked if I'd now be making more than a teacher ??

Oooooh you have a degree. Well pardon me all over the place!!! You sound either very young or very entitled or both. And a little spoiled. I'd actually rest easier knowing you're not influencing children's minds and instead working in a warehouse stacking shelves or in a shop as a checkout chick. And then you won't have to pay back your student loan its win/win.
I was kind of on your side until I read some of your other posts and answers. You need to grow-up. There is a place for everyone in the world and a job one person couldn't do another will thrive at. Whether a job is 'harder' than another is pure perception.

Retail work is harder than it used to be. I did it in my 20s while I was at college and I really enjoyed it. There was so little pressure.
Left for several years and went back to a different supermarket 3 years ago. It's like hell on earth. High targets, no support, constant abuse from customers including physical abuse, having teachers look down on you and thinking you deserve a shit wage.
Everyone knows teachers work hard but so do nursery staff, most of whom are on minimum wage. We do 9 to 10 hour days with the children and then around 6o clock (unless we have a staff meeting) we go home to another 3 hours or more of paper work.
So I understand to a certain extent that teachers work hard but they really aren't the only ones.

I worked for a well know high street shop. I worked in the stock room, emptying the boxes from the lorry, scanning, putting on coat hangers, putting security tags on, price labels and hanging up ready to go onto the shop floor. I had a target of 60 items an hour. I was ok as I was full time. But I felt sorry for the students and Saturday kids who also had this target and were told how many hours they owed the shop if they worked slower than than. It was hard work, 100% concentration all the time, no coffee breaks, or chit chat. On my feet for 8 hours with 30 mins unpaid lunch. It was like being in a factory on a conveyor belt and no way can be compared to my role now. If you think it’s easier than teaching then feel free to join up.